Dr. Eric Guiry

Biography

Growing up near the Great Lakes, Eric Guiry developed a keen interest in understanding how people interact with the natural world. He studied anthropology, archaeology, and biology during his undergraduate studies and became particularly interested in the chemical analyses of ancient proteins to explore the lives of past peoples, animals, and ecosystems. His postgraduate work has investigated the socioeconomic roles played by animals in historical North America. Guiry's current research program seeks to further broaden his analytical capabilities to help reframe the understanding of long-term environmental changes in human-animal relationships spanning the Holocene globally. His research integrates biomolecular techniques in zooarchaeology and historical ecology to explore a wide range of topics, centered on the roles that animals play in human societies. He is particularly interested in uncovering the role of colonial transoceanic and transcontinental trade networks, as well as industrialization and husbandry practices that have reshaped human-animal relationships over the past 500 years. His work promotes the idea of animals as sentient beings with unique experiences rather than simple sources of meat and raw materials, offering alternative perspectives on human-environment entanglements in the formation of domesticated landscapes. Eric's ongoing projects, often in collaboration with Indigenous communities, involve conservation programs that investigate ecological processes in regions such as the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence seaway, among others.

Research Interests

Courses